06/May/2009
Major Remodeling Job Moving Forward,
But Are We Getting Our Money’s Worth?
By: Bob Mathews
We visited Zachary High a couple of years ago for a briefing on the big remodeling plan. It sounded mucho ambitious and extensive to say the least.
Now we’re wondering, how it is going? So last week we went right to the horse’s mouth and asked.
What we learned is that teachers and students in areas where the big time remodeling work at Zachary High is complete are ecstatic with their new classroom space and all the new and improved teaching and learning tools. Others we talked with are still waiting (some in un-air conditioned dis comfort) for next year or the year after for their overcrowded conditions and antiquated gear to get replaced so they can join the lucky ones in the newly remodeled and revitalized portions of the old school.
Superintendent Warren Drake
We began by asking Zachary School Superintendent Warren Drake about his favorite part of the project so far. “Actually, I have been more pleased with each part as it has been completed,” he enthused. “Right now we are very excited about the next two major pieces, which are the Art Complex and the new gym, which is actually two gyms. These are going to be truly wonderful additions.”
While it took three votes of the people of Zachary to gain the financing needed to get the very ambitious project rolling; only the first vote involved an increase in taxes. The other two votes were just to approve the bonds, and those votes did not involve any increase in mileages.
“The really exciting thing is that we all seem to be on the same page,” he said. “The students, the teachers and the general public have been with us 100 percent from the beginning and it continues until now. You can feel the excitement in the air. Things are happening.”
Drake said he is also excited about the new Career Academy that is preparing Zachary High students for what they are going to do once they leave high school. “Most of our students will be attending either a regular four-year college, a junior college or a technical school after leaving us,” he explained. “Through a program we call ‘Options’ we are providing specialized training and instruction to prepare each of our graduates for life after Zachary High. No matter where they are headed, we want them to arrive fully prepared to succeed.”
Kathy Conerly
The day we went to see the new building and equipment in the Agriculture Department at Zachary High School was another move-in day for Ag Teacher Kathy Conerly and her students. The brand new Hydroponics Greenhouse had just been completed, and she and her students were starting to install the equipment.
“We plan to get the advanced classes, 10th through 12th grades, to work over the summer to get the large new hydroponics greenhouse set up in time for an open house in the fall,” explained Conerly who has a degree in horticulture from LSU. Her second BS and her master’s degree is in agricultural education. She is a 12-month employee of the school system, but hers is not an eight-hour, Monday through Friday job because animals and plants must be tended seven days a week.
“The most rewarding thing for me,” said Conerly “is to have students come back who want to see the progress we have made in our ever-expanding ag department. And it really makes me feel great when I bump into a former student who says to me: ‘Miss Conerly I wish you could see my garden.’”
Crystal Von Rosenberg, RN, BSN
When you step into the brand new two-room medical education center at Zachary High School you have to be prepared for a shock because the people in the beds don’t look at all well. After a moment you realize, however, that they are just rubber dummies.
“We try to make it as real as we possibly can for our juniors and seniors who take the course,” said Crystal Von Rosenberg, RN, BSN and the teacher in charge of the medical program. “We are going to add a new course for sophomores next year.”
Students in the program use a college text titled Medical Terminology for Health. Students in the program get to go to Lane Regional Hospital, dress in scrubs, and work while learning to make beds, bathe patients and make them as comfortable as possible.
“We teach our students to take vital signs and everyone works with Zachary Fire Chief Boyce Smith to learn CPR,” explained Von Rosenberg. “We teach HIPPA and emphasize the need to respect patient privacy.”
Students are taught to give first aid; they learn to give injections to oranges in the phlebotomy portion of the course; and they learn to use all types of durable medical equipment. “The brace guy came yesterday and did demonstrations for both classes,” said Von Rosenburg who advises two on-campus medical clubs and backs up the school nurse in emergencies.
Jennifer Masterson
One place where the remodeling of Zachary High has not reached yet is the department headed by Drama Teacher Jennifer Masterson. “In our department we don’t use a text, we learn by doing,” she said. “That makes the new facility, the environment in which we work, so very important for us.”
The Drama Department will wait for between one-and-one-half to two years before moving out of their present facilities and classroom. There is no air conditioning in the present theater where the drama students stage plays at Zachary High, and the sound system and lighting are terribly out of date.
“What we are looking forward to having once the new building is complete is a fully equipped black box theater where everything moves and where improv shows can be done with ease,” said Masterson. “We will have the latest in everything needed to train students in all phases of putting on theatrical productions.”
She said the new 500-plus-seat auditorium will make it possible for Zachary High to train young people for careers in the entertainment industry which is the largest industry in the world. “We will be able to rent the new theater to production companies. Our students will actually have part-time jobs helping build scenery, handling lighting assignments, etc. and they will be trained in that way,” said Masterson. “The film industry is getting much larger in our state and we want to train our students for these high paying jobs.”
Megan Buccere
Perhaps the most crowded place at Zachary High is the art department which has three art teachers but only two classrooms overflowing with students. The department’s new computers are installed in what was formerly a closet where art supplies were stored.
“We just have no space to do anything,” explained Department Head Megan Buccere. “We can’t wait for the day when we will be able to spread out and really let these young people do their thing.”
Buccere explained that it will be two years before they have a new art department with three new art classrooms, a 3-D studio, a new computer lab, and a fully equipped digital media department.
“In the meantime we just have to do the best we can with what we have,” she said. The art department needs lots of new stuff, but the question is where would they put it if they had it right now? The new building cannot come fast enough for these folks.
Ret. Maj. Stephen Black
Meanwhile, the ROTC program at Zachary High School is operating in completely redesigned and fully updated facilities. It is directed by Retired Major Stephen Black and Master Sergeant Victor Honeysette.
“We have a battalion that averages about 115 ROTC students. We break that into companies, platoons and squads,” explained Maj. Black. “We moved into our new facility in December of 07 and it has been just wonderful.”
Maj. Black said the mission of his department is to integrate with the school mission and to motivate students by teaching core values of leadership, self-respect and community service. The overall goal of the department is to turn out better citizens and better leaders.
“We regularly go and visit area nursing homes as a community service outreach and we collect a couple of pickup trucks filled with items for the war veterans home in Jackson,” explained Black. “We handle concessions and parking at each home football game and we provide the color guard at the start of each game. We also march in the annual Christmas parade.”
Black said the unit is an Honor Unity with Distinction as the result of an annual inspection by the U.S. Army. That fact is indicated by the yellow scarf cadets wear as part of their uniform each Wednesday when they attend school in uniform.
“Interestingly ROTC attracts more girls at Zachary High than boys every year,” said Black. “One of our classrooms actually converts into a rifle range and we won first place in a competition last year. Our technology is on the cutting edge in every way including an electronic white board and completely computerized interactive leadership training, in such things as sexual harassment. We are providing instruction in how to handle real life situations.”
Bottom Line
Good progress is being made and the learning environment at Zachary High is improving steadily as the remodeling program moves forward department by department. Some areas have not been touched yet and those are having to make do. On the other hand, those departments that have been updated and expanded are able top deliver the very finest in the way of service to young people in Zachary.
Anyone who questions whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth has only to visit Zachary High and see the beautiful new facilities. Students show that they know how fortunate they are to be attending the number one public high school in Louisiana in the businesslike way that they change classes with quiet determination to make it to their next stop on their road to success.
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